updated 02:40 pm EST, Fri November 11, 2011

Mandarin said coming to Siri by March

The iPhone 4S sold out in Hong Kong even faster than previously thought, a memo from Ticonderoga Securities' Brian White indicates. The analyst claims that both the city's Apple Store and all authorized resellers sold out within a space of three hours; Apple's local online store states that there is "no supply" of the phone left. Earlier accounts had just the Apple Store selling out by lunchtime.

White additionally cites sources saying that Siri, the voice command system on the 4S, will finally get Mandarin support by March 2012. The phone is meanwhile forecast to ship to mainland China in September. Many of today's Hong Kong sales are thought to have gone to scalpers, who the phones to gray-market vendors and hence the mainland market.